Catch Up Day

It's a beautiful, fall Saturday here. Lucas had a soccer game this morning (He played great and had a hat trick, but his team still lost 8-7), then we came home and watched the Red River Rivalry football game (that's OU vs. TX for those who don't know), and sadly OU lost. Tomorrow night we have tickets to go watch the OKC Energy Soccer Team play in their conference championship game, so we better not lose that one! Ugh!

So, to get my mind off the sports losses today, let's play a little blog catch up since I never posted at all this summer!

If I were to bullet point the Galloway Summer of 2015, it would look like this:

June
--VBS
--16th wedding anniversary
--Swimming
--Trip to Arkansas and Missouri

July
--Independence Day
--Trip to New Jersey and New York
--Lucas turned 6!
--Swimming

August
--More swimming
--Girls' trip to Texas
--School started

That's the cliff notes version.  I thought I'd at least elaborate a little and show some pics for posterity's sake. Let's start with May and June!

Technically, our summers in Oklahoma start mid to late May. School was out this year on May 20th, so we had a good 11 days of "summer" before we hit the typical summer months. I honestly can't remember much about those days except that we slept in, played with friends, and had a Memorial Day party with friends from church.

Playing the best game ever at our Memorial Day party.

Let's just say it got competitive.

The first two weeks of June we attended two different Vacation Bible Schools. We live in the Bible Belt and if you wanted to, you could send your child to a VBS every week of the entire summer. They are free and fun, and my kids enjoy them. But two or three a summer is plenty.

The first one we attended is one that we have attended every summer for the last four years. It's at a church where they not only have the typical stuff: snack, Bible story, games, songs, but they also take advantage of the creek that runs behind the property and take the kids fishing and canoeing everyday too. My kids love it. The second VBS we attended was at our home church, and I took on a leadership role over one of the craft rooms. It was fun to be a part of the week with my kids and my close friends too.

Me, Kim, Tanda, and Nikki at the end-of-the-week VBS cookout.

It was a great week!

June 4th, Mike and I celebrated 16 years of marriage! Wow! That's a long time! We actually celebrated while we were on a short, three night/four day trip through NW Arkansas and Missouri. We drove to Eureka Springs, Arkansas with my dad and step mom and her granddaughter and checked in to a cozy cabin. While there we visited a Wildlife Sanctuary, toured a haunted hotel, shopped and meandered the quaint shops and winding streets.

Wedding Day

June 4, 1999

My dad and stepmom watched the kids one night while Mike and I went out to officially celebrate our anniversary. We ate a fantastic taco place called Aquarius Taqueria. Then strolled through the town and went for a sunset drive. It was wonderful and relaxing.

And then this happened. 

What better to celebrate an anniversary than with a cheesy old-time photo.

In all honesty, we laughed our way through it and had a lot of fun.

After two days we headed to Missouri for a day at Silver Dollar City (think roller coasters and water rides and overpriced junk food) and then a tour of Fantastic Caverns (the country's only ride-through cave). My kids had so much fun with their cousin as we packed our last days absolutely full of activities (hence very little time for photos!

Here we are driving through Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri.

The rest of the month of June looked like this.

Escaping the heat and swimming two or three times a week at my dear friend, Beth's pool.

All I can say is, to survive summer in Oklahoma, you must be near water.

Thank the Lord for Beth's pool.

Throw in a few trips to the park, the zoo and playing with friends and that about sums up the month of June!